Update (10/20/22)
The deadline to purchase dinner tickets has passed, but the 7:00 PM speaking event is free and plenty of seats are still available. (Donations at the door are appreciated).
Original Information
Grace UMC in Jackson, Tennessee will host Chaplain and Syndicated Columnist Norris Burkes on Saturday, October 22, 2022. A ticketed barbecue dinner provided by Women of Hope Cafe will be offered at 6:00 PM (those opting for dinner will get preferred seating at the event), and Burkes will be speaking at 7:00 PM. Admission to the speaking event is free, but donations are accepted.
Click Here to Purchase Tickets to Dinner & Reserve Your Preferred Seat Today ($20)
Chaplain Norris Burkes began his chaplain career with both the active duty Air Force and the Air National Guard until his retirement in 2014. His assignments included Cape Canaveral Air Station, Izmir Air Station Turkey, and Moffett Field. He served as a combat hospital chaplain in Balad, Iraq with additional deployments to Saudi Arabia and Panama.
Concurrent to his military service, he served as a board-certified healthcare chaplain at Sutter Memorial, Kaiser, Methodist and Mather VA hospital. He entered retired life on July 1, 2017, but returned to part-time work with Hospice of the Foothills in Grass Valley.
Highlighting his chaplain work, Burkes writes a spirituality column that offers a humorous and hope-filled approach to everyday spirituality and is syndicated in 35 additional papers nationwide. He recently published a book retelling the best of his newspaper columns called “Thriving Beyond Surviving.”
He graduated from Baylor University, Waco, TX with a Bachelor of Arts in religion and journalism. He has a Master of Divinity degree from Golden Gate Seminary in Mill Valley CA and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Pacific University in Portland OR. He is currently enrolled in the Master’s of Journalism program at University of Nevada, Reno.
In recent years, Chaplain Norris has run two marathons of 26 miles, completing the 2013 Air Force marathon in a little over 5 hours. In the same year, he took up golf, but says he is not yet to be trusted with keeping accurate score.
He is the author of “Hero’s Highway” about his experience as a chaplain in a combat hospital. He is also the author of “No Small Miracles,” the father of four grown miracles and living proof that 40 years of a happy marriage is still God’s greatest miracle.
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